


In Preparation for the Cold and Dark

by Eirenne Saijima (ladypoetess)



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, F/F, Fluff, Multi, OT4, Polyshipping Day, Post-Canon, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-11 23:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7074175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladypoetess/pseuds/Eirenne%20Saijima
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When your family is scattered across the world, time together can be a precious thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Preparation for the Cold and Dark

**Author's Note:**

> This is set within the first 2 years after A Memory of Light, and as such contains AMoL spoilers.

"I will never become quite used to this middle weather you have here in the wetlands, Elayne."

Elayne's answer and smile were distracted as she watched one of the twins go tumbling through a pile of leaves in garden while she nursed the other. "What do you mean 'middle weather' Aviendha? This is perfectly normal autumn weather in Andor or Cairhien, though it might be a trifle warmer here in Andor I think."

"In the three-fold land it is hot during the day and it is cold during the night, with none of this middle weather at any time of the year. It is unsettling." Aviendha scowled vaguely at the gray clouds mounded in the sky above the garden.

With a fond look for her sister-wife, Elayne shook her head and turned back toward the little boy shrieking in the fallen leaves. "Gawyn, come here, it is time to go back inside." When the boy did not respond she firmed her tone a little (though it was obviously amused to anyone who knew her as Aviendha did) and repeated, "Gawyn, come here now. I shall have to get Lini to come--" Before Elayne could finish her tame threat, the babbling boy with red-gold curls was toddling toward her and laughing as he reached to grab at her skirts.

"Shall I get him for you, Elayne?" Aviendha was already moving to pick up their son while she spoke, pulling the boy up into her lap and letting him climb around to cling to her back before she stood, wavering slightly as she corrected her balance with the dual canes she used when transporting herself around under her own power. Aviendha might consent to litter bearers when out in the towns, but when she was in her homes - either with Elayne in the royal palaces or in her own tents among the Aiel - she refused the intrusion of unnecessary people.

"Of course." Elayne looked down at her daughter and softly stroked the curls that topped her head, the matching red-gold to those of her brother. "Birgitte is about finished for now anyway, and it is becoming more brisk than I like for the little ones to be out in just yet. At least, without more appropriate clothing on, anyway."

As they entered the small hallway and the door closed on the autumn winds and swirling funnels of dried leaves that rode them, there was a woman in the white and red livery waiting anxiously for them. "M-my lady?"

"Yes, what is it? This is my family hour and Mistress Harfor knows I am not to be disturbed except in emergencies." Elayne's voice was quite firm now, in ways it had not been when speaking to her children.

"Yes, your Highness," the maid dipped a quick curtsy, "that is why she sent me to you now. There is a messenger from the Empire and it is someone Mistress Harfor thinks you'll want to see a'fore the formal audiences this afternoon"

Elayne made a silent note to speak to Reene Harfor about the speech of the maids sent with messages, but outwardly she nodded. "Very well, have the messenger shown to my private audience chamber."

The maid hesitated and then spoke again, less sure of herself this time, "Beggin' your pardon, my lady, but she is already in your sitting room."

A quick glance sideways told Elayne that Aviendha's thoughts had reached the same conclusion as her own: Min.

"Have two of the junior nurses meet us on the way to my sitting room so that Gawyn and Birgitte can be taken for their naps, please." Another sidelong glance and a shared smile with Aviendha, and the two began moving quickly toward Elayne's private rooms.

"What has brought her all the way here, now, from Seandar, do you suppose?" Aviendha's smile was tempered with puzzlement as she thought about the possibilities that could have summoned their sister-wife to them, halfway around the world.

"I do not know, Aviendha, but I surely intend to find out!"

After passing the two drowsing toddlers off to the young women Lini had consented to train as royal nurses, Elayne and Aviendha turned to one another and spared a quick moment to tuck wind-blown wisps of hair back behind ears and under kerchiefs and to pick flakes of dead leaves from the rough embroidered patches of their gowns. When each passed muster, they turned as one and entered the sitting room.

Waiting in an overstuffed chair near the fire, with one leg carelessly draped over the arm of the chair - a position made only slightly less scandalous by the fact that leg was encased in the tightly-fitted fabric of pale blue trousers - sat Min Farshaw. Married to both Elayne and Aviendha (and to Rand al'Thor, for all that the world knew little of that any longer), the women saw little enough of each other and ever less of Min. While Elayne had her duties as regent in Andor and Cairhien, and Aviendha hers as a Wise One among the drastically reduced number of Aiel, Min was the one kept furthest from them in her position as Soe'feia to the Seanchan Empress.

"Oh, _Min_ , I am so happy to see you!" Elayne's eyes welled up with joyful tears and she strode forward to draw the dark-haired woman to her feet and into an embrace. A moment later Aviendha's tall form drew both of them to her in an embrace so fierce that in earlier days it may have signaled an incipient danger to one of them. Now, it was simply laughter and love mingled with surprise as the three women embraced their wives.

When they each began to pull back from the embrace, Min smiled that rakish grin of hers and reached up to draw Aviendha's face down to her own for a long and thorough kiss that left the taller woman breathing a little harder when Min finally let go. Before Elayne's delighted grin at other two could slip from her face, Min chuckled low and drew her other wife into a kiss just as lingering.

It was several minutes until any of the three were feeling up to speaking, and ultimately Min had extricated herself under the guise of pouring them each some warm, spiced wine while the others settled into a sofa so that Aviendha could rest her aching legs on a footrest. Nynaeve had given strict instructions that if Aviendha was going to be woolheaded enough to attempt walking on the stumps of her legs, she must at least rest them after by elevating them and allowing others to massage them gently.

With the impeccable timing of trained dancers, each woman finished her preparations and looked up at the other two as one. Passing the wine cups to each woman, Min collapsed gracefully between them on the sofa and let her head drop sideways onto Aviendha's shoulder.

"I have missed you both so much." Min coaxed Elayne into curling up with her head against MIn's chest so that Min could run her fingers through the mane of curls that spilled over her shoulder. "And it is so bloody _good_ to hear someone call me 'Min' instead of 'Darbinda'."

"We have missed you as well, Min." Aviendha spoke her name like a caress, her free hand reaching over to press softly against Min's cheek. "We all have our work to do, but it makes separation no easier for any of us. And you most of all, I fear, for you cannot channel."

Elayne jerked slightly and raised her head to look up toward the others, "Yes, and while we could make gateways to come to you, how _did_ you come to us today?"

Min's throaty chuckle was soft. "Oh, a certain woolheaded sheepherder thought I might want to spend some time with my spouses and children before the cold of the year truly took hold.

"Hello, shades of my heart."


End file.
